Tamil culture

Tamil culture is the culture of the Tamil people. Tamil culture is rooted in the arts and ways of
life of Tamils in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore and across the globe. Tamil culture is
expressed in language, literature, music, dance, theatre,folk arts, martial
arts, painting, sculpture, architecture, sports, media, comedy, cuisine, costumes, celebrations, ph
ilosophy,religions, traditions, rituals, organizations, science, and technology.

Contents

1 Language and literature

2 Religion

3 Martial Traditions

3.1 Traditional Weapons

4 Visual art and architecture

5 Music

6 Performing arts

6.1 Film and theater arts

6.2 Jallikattu

Language and literature

Saga Agastya, father of Tamil literature.

Tamils have strong attachment to the Tamil language, which is often venerated in literature as
"Tamil̲an̲n̲ai", "the Tamil mother". It has historically been, and to large extent still is, central to the
Tamil identity. Like the other languages of South India, it is a Dravidian language, unrelated to
the Indo-European languages of northern India. The language has been far less influenced
by Sanskrit than the other Dravidian languages, and preserves many features of Proto-Dravidian,
though modern-day spoken Tamil in Tamil Nadu, freely uses loanwords from Sanskrit and
English. Tamil literature is of considerable antiquity, and is recognised as a classical language by
the government of India. Classical Tamil literature, which ranges from lyric poetry to works
on poetics and ethical philosophy, is remarkably different from contemporary and later literature
in other Indian languages, and represents the oldest body of secular literature in South Asia.
Language

Tamil (தமிழ் ) also spelt Thamizh is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil

people of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and

the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry. Tamil is also an official and national language of Sri
Lanka and one of the official languages of Singapore. It is legalised as one of the languages of
medium of education in Malaysia along with English, Malay and Mandarin. It is also chiefly
spoken in the states of Kerala,Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands as a secondary
language and by minorities in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It is one of the 22 scheduled
languages of India and was the first Indian language declared as a classical language by
the Government of India in 2004. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities
in Malaysia, England, Mauritius, Canada, South Africa, Fiji, Germany, Philippines, United
States, Netherlands,Indonesia, Réunion and France as well as emigrant communities around the
world.

Tamil is one of the longest surviving classical languages in the world. 500BC Tamil-Brahmi
inscriptions have been found on Adichanallur and 2,200-year-old Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions have
been found on Samanamalai. It has been described as "the only language of contemporary India
which is recognizably continuous with a classical past." The variety and quality of classical Tamil
literature has led to it being described as "one of the great classical traditions and literatures of
the world". Tamil literature has existed for over 2000 years. The earliest period of Tamil
literature, Sangam literature, is dated from ca. 300 BC – AD 300. It has the oldest
extantliterature amongst other Dravidian languages. The earliest epigraphicrecords found on
rock edicts and hero stones date from around the 3rd century BC. More than 55% of the
epigraphical inscriptions (about 55,000) found by the Archaeological Survey of India are in the
Tamil language. Tamil language inscriptions written in Brahmi script have been discovered in Sri
Lanka, and on trade goods in Thailand and Egypt. The two earliest manuscripts from
India, acknowledged and registered by UNESCO Memory of the World register in 1997 and
2005, were in Tamil.

In 1578, Portuguese Christian Missionaries published a Tamil prayer book in old Tamil script
named 'Thambiraan Vanakkam', thus making Tamil the first Indian language to be printed and
published. Tamil Lexicon, published by the University of Madras, is the first among
the dictionaries published in any Indian language. Tamil is used as a sacred
language of Ayyavazhi and in Tamil Hindu traditions of Shaivism and Vaishnavism. According to
a 2001 survey, there were 1,863 newspapers published in Tamil, of which 353 were dailies.

Classification

Tamil belongs to the southern branch of the Dravidian languages, a family of around 26

languages native to the Indian subcontinent. It is also classified as being part of a Tamil
language family, which alongside Tamil proper, also includes the languages of about 35 ethno-
linguistic groups such as the Irulaand Yerukula languages (see SIL Ethnologue).

The closest major relative of Tamil is Malayalam; the two began diverging around the 9th century
CE. Although many of the differences between Tamil and Malayalam demonstrate a pre-historic
split of the western dialect, the process of separation into a distinct language, Malayalam, was
not completed until sometime in the 13th or 14th century.

History

Silver coin of king Vashishtiputra Sātakarni (c. AD 160).

Obv: Bust of king. Prakrit legend in the Brahmi script: "Siri Satakanisa Rano ... Vasithiputasa": "King
Vasishtiputra Sri Satakarni"
Rev: Ujjain/Sātavāhana symbol left. Crescented six-arch chaitya hill right. River below. Early Tamil legend
in the Tamil Brahmiscript: "Arah(s)anaku Vah(s)itti makanaku Tiru H(S)atakani ko" – which means "The
ruler, Vasitti's son, Highness Satakani" – -ko being the royal name suffix.

According to linguists like Bhadriraju Krishnamurti, Tamil, as a Dravidian language, descends

from Proto-Dravidian, a Proto-language. Linguistic reconstruction suggests that Proto-
Dravidian was spoken around the third millennium BC, possibly in the region around the
lower Godavari river basin in peninsular India. The material evidence suggests that the speakers
of Proto-Dravidian were of the culture associated with the Neolithic complexes of South
India. The next phase in the reconstructed proto-history of Tamil is Proto-South Dravidian. The
linguistic evidence suggests that Proto-South Dravidian was spoken around the middle of the
second millennium BC, and that proto-Tamil emerged around the 3rd century BC. The
earliest epigraphic attestations of Tamil are generally taken to have been written shortly
thereafter. Among Indian languages, Tamil has the most ancient non-Sanskritised Indian
literature. Scholars categorise the attested history of the language into three periods, Old Tamil
(300 BC – AD 700), Middle Tamil (700–1600) and Modern Tamil (1600–present). During a recent
excavation at Quseir-al-Qadim, Egyptian pottery dating back to first century BC were discovered
with ancient Tamil Brahmi inscriptions.

“You get a sense of the role of early and medieval merchant guilds in the Deccan and Tamil
Nadu and Kerala,” Guy said in a conversation with Scroll.in. “You know how common they are in
India, but then you find their inscriptions in places like Sumatra and Thailand. It is astonishing
how they got around. They were busy boys, travelling far and wide.” research started with a
highly acclaimed exhibition curated last year at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
“Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia, 5th to 8th Century” had 160
sculptures, gathered for the first time in such numbers, from museums and collections across
India, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

According to Hindu legend, Tamil, or in personification form Tamil Tāy (Mother Tamil), was

created by Shiva. Shiva's Son, Lord Murugan, also known as Lord Kartikeya in other Indian
languages, and the sage Agastya brought it to the people.

Etymology

SageAgastya,Chairman of first Tamil Sangam, Thenmadurai, Pandiya Kingdom

The earliest extant Tamil literary works and their commentaries celebrates the Pandiyan
Kings for the organization of long-termed Tamil Sangams, which researched, developed and
made amendments in Tamil language. Even though the name of the language which was
developed by these Tamil Sangams is mentioned as Tamil, the exact period when the name
"Tamil" came to be applied to the language is unclear, as is the precise etymology of the name.
The earliest attested use of the name is found in Tholkappiyam, which is dated as early as 1st
century BC. Southworth suggests that the name comes from tam-miḻ > tam-iḻ 'self-speak', or
'one's own speech'. (see Southworth's derivation of Sanskrit term for "others" or Mleccha)Kamil
Zvelebil suggests an etymology of tam-iḻ, with tam meaning "self" or "one's self", and "-iḻ" having
the connotation of "unfolding sound". Alternatively, he suggests a derivation of tamiḻ < tam-iḻ <
*tav-iḻ < *tak-iḻ, meaning in origin "the proper process (of speaking)".

The Tamil Lexicon of University of Madras defines the word 'Tamil' as 'sweetness'. S.V
Subramanian suggests the meaning 'sweet sound' from 'tam'- sweet and 'il'- 'sound'.

Old Tamil

Mangulam Tamil Brahmi inscription at Dakshin Chithra, Chennai

Old Tamil is the period of the Tamil language spanning the 5th century BCE to the 8th century
CE.

The earliest records in Old Tamil are short inscriptions from between the 5th and 2nd century
BCE in caves and on pottery. These inscriptions are written in a variant of the Brahmi
script called Tamil Brahmi. The earliest long text in Old Tamil is the Tolkāppiyam, an early work
on Tamil grammar and poetics, whose oldest layers could be as old as the 1st century BC. A
large number of literary works in Old Tamil have also survived. These include a corpus of 2,381
poems collectively known as Sangam literature. These poems are usually dated to between the
1st and 5th centuries AD, which makes them the oldest extant body of secular literature in
India. Other literary works in Old Tamil include Thirukural, Silappatikaram and Maṇimēkalai, and
a number of ethical and didactic texts, written between the 5th and 8th centuries.

Old Tamil preserved many features of Proto-Dravidian, including the inventory of consonants, the
syllable structure, and various grammatical features. Amongst these was the absence of a
distinct present tense – like Proto-Dravidian, Old Tamil only had two tenses, the past and the
"non-past". Old Tamil verbs also had a distinct negative conjugation (e.g. kāṇēṉ (காணேன்) "I
do not see", kāṇōm (காணோம் "we do not see") Nouns could take pronominal suffixes like
verbs to express ideas: e.g. peṇṭirēm (பெண்டிரேம்) "we are women" formed
from peṇṭir (பெண்டிர்) "women" and the first person plural marker -ēm (ஏம்). Despite the

significant amount of grammatical and syntactical change between Old, Middle and Modern
Tamil, Tamil demonstrates grammatical continuity across these stages: many characteristics of
the later stages of the language have their roots in features of Old Tamil.
 Middle Tamil

Tanjavur Tamil Inscription

The evolution of Old Tamil into Middle Tamil, which is generally taken to have been completed
by the 8th century, was characterised by a number of phonological and grammatical changes. In
phonological terms, the most important shifts were the virtual disappearance of the aytam (ஃ), an

old phoneme, the coalescence of the alveolar and dental nasals, and the transformation of the
alveolar plosive into a rhotic In grammar, the most important change was the emergence of the
present tense. The present tense evolved out of the verb kil (கில்), meaning "to be possible" or

"to befall". In Old Tamil, this verb was used as an aspect marker to indicate that an action was
micro-durative, non-sustained or non-lasting, usually in combination with a time marker such
as ṉ (ன்). In Middle Tamil, this usage evolved into a present tense marker – kiṉṟa (கின்ற) –

which combined the old aspect and time markers.

From the period of the Pallava dynasty onwards, a number of Sanskrit loan-words entered Tamil,

particularly in relation to political, religious and philosophical concepts. Sanskrit also influenced
Tamil grammar, in the increased use of cases and in declined nouns becoming adjuncts of verbs,
and phonology. The forms of writing in Tamil have developed through years. The Tamil script
also changed in the period of Middle Tamil. Tamil Brahmi andVaṭṭeḻuttu, into which it evolved,
were the main scripts used in Old Tamil inscriptions. From the 8th century onwards, however, the
Pallavas began using a new script, derived from the Pallava Grantha script which was used to
write Sanskrit, which eventually replaced Vaṭṭeḻuttu.

Middle Tamil is attested in a large number of inscriptions, and in a significant body of secular and
religious literature. These include the religious poems and songs of the Bhakthi poets, such as
the Tēvāram verses on Shaivism and Nālāyira Tivya Pirapantam on Vaishnavism, and
adaptations of religious legends such as the 12th century Tamil Ramayana composed
by Kamban and the story of 63 shaivite devotees known as Periyapurāṇam. Iraiyaṉār Akapporuḷ,
an early treatise on love poetics, and Naṉṉūl, a 12th-century grammar that became the standard
grammar of literary Tamil, are also from the Middle Tamil period.
 Modern Tamil

Mahatma Gandhi's written wishes in Tamil for the memorial of Subramanya Bharathy in Ettayapuram

The Nannul remains the standard normative grammar for modern literary Tamil, which therefore
continues to be based on Middle Tamil of the 13th century rather than on Modern
Tamil. Colloquial spoken Tamil, in contrast, shows a number of changes. The negative
conjugation of verbs, for example, has fallen out of use in Modern Tamil – negation is, instead,
expressed either morphologically or syntactically. Modern spoken Tamil also shows a number of
sound changes, in particular, a tendency to lower high vowels in initial and medial positions, and
the disappearance of vowels between plosives and between a plosive and rhotic.

Contact with European languages also affected both written and spoken Tamil. Changes in
written Tamil include the use of European-style punctuation and the use of consonant clusters
that were not permitted in Middle Tamil. The syntax of written Tamil has also changed, with the
introduction of new aspectual auxiliaries and more complex sentence structures, and with the
emergence of a more rigid word order that resembles the syntactic argument structure of
English. Simultaneously, a strong strain of linguistic purism emerged in the early 20th century,
culminating in the Pure Tamil Movement which called for removal of all Sanskritic and other
foreign elements from Tamil. It received some support from Dravidian parties. This led to the
replacement of a significant number of Sanskrit loanwords by Tamil equivalents, though many
others remain.

Geographic distribution

Distribution of Tamil speakers in South India and Sri Lanka (1961).

Tamil is the first language of the majority of the people residing in Tamil Nadu,Puducherry, in
India and Northern Province, Eastern Province, in Sri Lanka. The language is also spoken
among small minority groups in other states of India which include Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra and in certain regions of Sri Lanka such as Colombo and the hill
country. Tamil or dialects of it were used widely in the state of Kerala as the major language of
administration, literature and common usage until the 12th century AD. Tamil was also used
widely in inscriptions found in southern Andhra Pradesh districts of Chittoor and Nellore until the
12th century AD. Tamil was also used for inscriptions from the 10th through 14th centuries in
southern Karnataka districts such as Kolar, Mysore, Mandya andBangalore.

There are currently sizeable Tamil-speaking populations descended from colonial-era migrants

in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Mauritius, South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma,
and Vietnam. A large community of Pakistani Tamils speakers exists in Karachi, Pakistan, which
includes Tamil-speaking Hindus as well as Christians and Muslims – including some Tamil-
speaking Muslim refugees from Sri Lanka. Many in Réunion, Guyana, Fiji, Suriname, and
Trinidad and Tobago have Tamil origins, but only a small number speak the language. In
Reunion where the Tamil language was forbidden to be learnt and used in public space
by France it is now being relearnt by students and adults. It is also used by groups of
migrants from Sri Lanka and India, Canada (especially Toronto), United States (especially New
Jersey and New York City), Australia, many Middle Eastern countries, and some Western
European countries.

Legal status

Tamil is the official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the 22 languages
under schedule 8 of the constitution of India. It is also one of the official languages of the union
territory of Puducherry and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Tamil is also one of the official
languages of Singapore. Tamil is one of the official and national languages of Sri Lanka, along
with Sinhala. It was once given nominal official status in the state of Haryana, purportedly as a
rebuff toPunjab, though there was no attested Tamil-speaking population in the state, and was
later replaced by Punjabi, in 2010. In Malaysia, 543 primary educationgovernment schools are
available fully in Tamil medium. The establishments of Tamil medium schools have been
currently in process in Myanmar to provide education completely in Tamil language by the Tamils
who settled there 200 years ago. Tamil language is taught in Canada and South Africa for the
local Tamil minority populations. In Ontario, Canada, the month of January has been declared
"Tamil Heritage Month" per legislation.

In addition, with the creation in October 2004 of a legal status for classical languages by
the Government of India and following a political campaign supported by several Tamil
associations, Tamil became the first legally recognisedClassical language of India. The
recognition was announced by the then President of India, Abdul Kalam, in a joint sitting of both
houses of the Indian Parliament on 6 June 2004.
 Dialects
Region-specific variations
The socio-linguistic situation of Tamil is characterised by diglossia: there are two separate
registers varying by social status, a high register and a low one. Tamil dialects are primarily
differentiated from each other by the fact that they have undergone different phonological
changes and sound shifts in evolving from Old Tamil. For example, the word for "here"—
iṅku in Centamil (the classic variety)—has evolved into iṅkū in the Kongu dialect
of Coimbatore, inga in the dialect ofThanjavur, and iṅkai in some dialects of Sri Lanka. Old
Tamil's iṅkaṇ (where kaṇmeans place) is the source of iṅkane in the dialect of Tirunelveli, Old
Tamil iṅkaṭṭu is the source of iṅkuṭṭu in the dialect of Madurai, and iṅkaṭe in various northern
dialects. Even now, in the Coimbatore area, it is common to hear "akkaṭṭa" meaning "that place".
Although Tamil dialects do not differ significantly in their vocabulary, there are a few exceptions.
The dialects spoken in Sri Lanka retain many words and grammatical forms that are not in
everyday use in India, and use many other words slightly differently. The various Tamil dialects
include Central Tamil dialect, Kongu Tamil, Madras Bashai, Madurai Tamil, Nellai Tamil, kumari
Tamil in India and Batticaloa Tamil dialect,Jaffna Tamil dialect, Negombo Tamil dialect in Sri
Lanka. Sankethi dialect in Karnataka has been heavily influenced byKannada.

Loanword variations

The dialect of the district of Palakkad in Kerala has a large number of Malayalamloanwords, has
been influenced by Malayalam's syntax and also has a distinctive Malayalam accent. Similarly,
Tamil spoken in Kanyakumari District has more unique words and phonetic style than Tamil
spoken at other parts of Tamil Nadu. The words and phonetics are so different that a person
from Kanyakumari district is easily identifiable by their spoken
Tamil. Hebbar and Mandyam dialects, spoken by groups of Tamil Vaishnavites who migrated
to Karnataka in the 11th century, retain many features of the Vaishnava paribasai, a special form
of Tamil developed in the 9th and 10th centuries that reflect Vaishnavite religious and spiritual
values. Several castes have their own sociolects which most members of that caste traditionally
used regardless of where they come from. It is often possible to identify a person's caste by their
speech. Tamil in Sri Lanka incorporates loan words from Portuguese, Dutch, and English.

Spoken and literary variants

In addition to its various dialects, Tamil exhibits different forms: a classical literary style modelled
on the ancient language (sankattamiḻ), a modern literary and formal style (centamiḻ), and a
modern colloquial form (koṭuntamiḻ). These styles shade into each other, forming a stylistic
continuum. For example, it is possible to write centamiḻwith a vocabulary drawn from caṅkattamiḻ,
or to use forms associated with one of the other variants while speaking koṭuntamiḻ.[94]

In modern times, centamiḻ is generally used in formal writing and speech. For instance, it is the
language of textbooks, of much of Tamil literature and of public speaking and debate. In recent
times, however, koṭuntamiḻ has been making inroads into areas that have traditionally been
considered the province of centamiḻ. Most contemporary cinema, theatre and popular
entertainment on television and radio, for example, is in koṭuntamiḻ, and many politicians use it to
bring themselves closer to their audience. The increasing use of koṭuntamiḻ in modern times has
led to the emergence of unofficial ‘standard' spoken dialects. In India, the ‘standard' koṭuntamiḻ,
rather than on any one dialect, but has been significantly influenced by the dialects
of Thanjavur and Madurai. In Sri Lanka, the standard is based on the dialect of Jaffna.

Writing system

Jambai Tamil Brahmi inscriptiondated to the early Sangam age

After Tamil Brahmi fell out of use, Tamil was written using a script called thevaṭṭeḻuttu amongst
others such as Grantha and Pallava script. The current Tamil script consists of 12 vowels,
18 consonants and one special character, the āytam. The vowels and consonants combine to
form 216 compound characters, giving a total of 247 characters (12 + 18 + 1 + (12 x 18)). All
consonants have an inherent vowel a, as with other Indic scripts. This inherent vowel is removed
by adding a tittle called a puḷḷi, to the consonantal sign. For example, ன is ṉa (with the
inherent a) and ன் is ṉ (without a vowel). Many Indic scripts have a similar sign, generically

called virama, but the Tamil script is somewhat different in that it nearly always uses a
visible puḷḷi to indicate a dead consonant (a consonant without a vowel). In other Indic scripts, it
is generally preferred to use a ligature or a half form to write a syllable or a cluster containing a
dead consonant, although writing it with a visible virama is also possible. The Tamil script does
not differentiate voiced and unvoiced plosives. Instead, plosives are articulated with voice
depending on their position in a word, in accordance with the rules of Tamil phonology.

In addition to the standard characters, six characters taken from the Grantha script, which was
used in the Tamil region to write Sanskrit, are sometimes used to represent sounds not native to
Tamil, that is, words adopted from Sanskrit, Prakrit and other languages. The traditional system
prescribed by classical grammars for writing loan-words, which involves respelling them in
accordance with Tamil phonology, remains, but is not always consistently applied.

Phonology

Tamil phonology is characterised by the presence of retroflex consonants and multiple rhotics.

Tamil does not distinguish phonologically between voiced and unvoiced consonants;
phonetically, voice is assigned depending on a consonant's position in a word. Tamil phonology
permits few consonant clusters, which can never be word initial. Native grammarians classify
Tamil phonemes into vowels, consonants, and a "secondary character", the āytam.
Vowels
Tamil has five vowel qualities, namely /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/ and /u/. Each may be long or short.
There are two diphthongs,/aɪ/ and /aʊ/, and three "shortened" vowels. Long vowels are about
twice as long as short vowels. Thediphthongs are usually pronounced about 1.5 times as long as
short vowels. Most grammatical texts place them with the long vowels.

Consonants
Tamil consonants are presented as hard, soft and medial in some grammars which roughly
corresponds to plosives, approximants and nasals. Unlike most Indian languages, Tamil does not
distinguish aspirated and unaspirated consonants. In addition, the voicing of plosives is governed
by strict rules in centamiḻ. Plosives are unvoiced if they occur word-initially or doubled. Elsewhere
they are voiced, with a few becoming fricatives intervocalically. Nasals and approximants are
always voiced.

Tamil is characterised by its use of more than one type of coronal consonants: like many of the
other languages of India, it contains a series of retroflex consonants. Notably, the Tamil retroflex
series includes the retroflex approximant /ɻ/ (ழ) (example Tamil; often transcribed 'zh'), which is

absent in the Indo-Aryan languages. Among the other Dravidian languages, the retroflex
approximant also occurs in Malayalam (for example in 'Kozhikode'), disappeared from
spoken Kannada around 1000 AD (although the character is still written, and exists in Unicode),
and was never present in Telugu. In many dialects of colloquial Tamil, this consonant is seen as
disappearing and shifting to the alveolar lateral approximant /l/. Dental andalveolar
consonants also historically contrasted with each other, a typically Dravidian trait not found in the
neighbouring Indo-Aryan languages. While this distinction can still be seen in the written
language, it has been largely lost in colloquial spoken Tamil, and even in literary usage the
letters ந (dental) and ன (alveolar) may be seen as allophonic. Likewise, the historical alveolar

stop has transformed into a trill consonant in many modern dialects

Āytam
Classical Tamil also had a phoneme called the Āytam, written as ‘ஃ'. Tamil grammarians of the

time classified it as a dependent phoneme (or restricted phoneme) (cārpeḻuttu), but it is very rare
in modern Tamil. The rules of pronunciation given in the Tolkāppiyam, a text on the grammar of
Classical Tamil, suggest that the āytam could have glottalised the sounds it was combined with.
It has also been suggested that the āytam was used to represent the voiced implosive (or closing
part or the first half) of geminated voiced plosives inside a word. The Āytam, in modern Tamil, is
also used to convert p to f when writing English words using the Tamil script.

Numerals and symbols

Apart from the usual numerals, Tamil also has numerals for 10, 100 and 1000. Symbols for day,
month, year, debit, credit, as above, rupee, and numeral are present as well.Tamil also uses
several historical fractional signs.
 Grammar

Tamil employs agglutinative grammar, where suffixes are used to mark noun class, number,

and case, verb tense and other grammatical categories. Tamil's
standard metalinguistic terminology and scholarly vocabulary is itself Tamil, as opposed to
the Sanskrit that is standard for most Aryan languages.

Much of Tamil grammar is extensively described in the oldest known grammar book for Tamil,
the Tolkāppiyam. Modern Tamil writing is largely based on the 13th century
grammar Naṉṉūl which restated and clarified the rules of the Tolkāppiyam, with some
modifications. Traditional Tamil grammar consists of five parts,
namely eḻuttu, sol, poruḷ, yāppu, aṇi. Of these, the last two are mostly applied in poetry.

Tamil words consist of a lexical root to which one or more affixes are attached. Most Tamil
affixes are suffixes. Tamil suffixes can be derivational suffixes, which either change the part of
speech of the word or its meaning, or inflectional suffixes, which mark categories such
as person, number, mood, tense, etc. There is no absolute limit on the length and extent
ofagglutination, which can lead to long words with a large number of suffixes.

Morphology
Tamil nouns (and pronouns) are classified into two super-classes (tiṇai)—the "rational"
(uyartiṇai), and the "irrational" (akṟiṇai)—which include a total of five classes (pāl, which literally
means ‘gender'). Humans and deities are classified as "rational", and all other nouns (animals,
objects, abstract nouns) are classified as irrational. The "rational" nouns and pronouns belong to
one of three classes (pāl)—masculine singular, feminine singular, and rational plural. The
"irrational" nouns and pronouns belong to one of two classes: irrational singular and irrational
plural. The pāl is often indicated through suffixes. The plural form for rational nouns may be used
as an honorific, gender-neutral, singular form.

Suffixes are used to perform the functions of cases or postpositions. Traditional grammarians

tried to group the various suffixes into eight cases corresponding to the cases used in Sanskrit.
These were the nominative, accusative, dative,sociative, genitive, instrumental, locative,
and ablative. Modern grammarians argue that this classification is artificial, and that Tamil usage
is best understood if each suffix or combination of suffixes is seen as marking a separate
case. Tamil nouns can take one of four prefixes, i, a, u, and e which are functionally equivalent to
the demonstratives in English.

Tamil verbs are also inflected through the use of suffixes. A typical Tamil verb form will have a
number of suffixes, which show person, number, mood, tense, and voice.

 Person and number are indicated by suffixing the oblique case of the relevant pronoun.
The suffixes to indicate tenses and voice are formed from grammatical particles, which are
added to the stem.
 Tamil has two voices. The first indicates that the subject of the sentence undergoes or is
the object of the action named by the verb stem, and the second indicates that the subject of
the sentence directs the action referred to by the verb stem.
 Tamil has three simple tenses—past, present, and future—indicated by the suffixes, as
well as a series of perfects indicated by compound suffixes. Mood is implicit in Tamil, and is
normally reflected by the same morphemes which mark tense categories. Tamil verbs also
mark evidentiality, through the addition of the hearsay clitic ām.

Traditional grammars of Tamil do not distinguish between adjectives and adverbs, including both

of them under the categoryuriccol, although modern grammarians tend to distinguish between
them on morphological and syntactical grounds. Tamil has a large number of ideophones that act
as adverbs indicating the way the object in a given state "says" or "sounds".

Tamil does not have articles. Definiteness and indefiniteness are either indicated by special
grammatical devices, such as using the number "one" as an indefinite article, or by the
context. In the first person plural, Tamil makes a distinction
between inclusive pronouns நாம் nām (we), நமது namatu (our) that include the addressee and
exclusive pronouns நாங்கள் nāṅkaḷ (we), எமது ematu (our) that do not.

Syntax
Tamil is a consistently head-final language. The verb comes at the end of the clause, with a
typical word order of subject–object–verb (SOV). However, word order in Tamil is also flexible, so
that surface permutations of the SOV order are possible with different pragmatic effects. Tamil
has postpositions rather than prepositions. Demonstratives and modifiers precede the noun
within the noun phrase. Subordinate clauses precede the verb of the matrix clause.

Tamil is a null-subject language. Not all Tamil sentences have subjects, verbs, and objects. It is
possible to construct grammatically valid and meaningful sentences which lack one or more of
the three. For example, a sentence may only have a verb—such as muṭintuviṭṭatu ("completed")—
or only a subject and object, without a verb such as atu eṉ vīṭu ("That [is] my house"). Tamil does
not have a copula (a linking verb equivalent to the word is). The word is included in the
translations only to convey the meaning more easily.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary of Tamil is mainly Dravidian. A strong sense of linguistic purism is found in
Modern Tamil,[114] which opposes the use of foreign loanwords. Nonetheless, a number of words
used in classical and modern Tamil are loanwords from the languages of neighbouring groups, or
with whom the Tamils had trading links, including Munda (for example, tavaḷai"frog" from
Munda tabeg), Malay (e.g. cavvarici "sago" from Malay sāgu), Chinese (for example, campān "skiff"
from Chinese san-pan) and Greek (for example, ora from Greek ὥρα). In more modern times,
Tamil has imported words from Urdu andMarathi, reflecting groups that have influenced the
Tamil area at various points of time, and from neighbouring languages such as Telugu, Kannada,
and Sinhala. During the modern period, words have also been adapted from European
languages, such as Portuguese, French, and English.

The strongest impact of purism in Tamil has been on words taken from Sanskrit. During its
history, Tamil, along with other Dravidian languages like Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam etc., was
influenced by Sanskrit in terms of vocabulary, grammar and literary styles, reflecting the
increased trend of Sanskritisation in the Tamil country. Tamil vocabulary never became quite as
heavily Sanskritised as that of the other Dravidian languages, and unlike in those languages, it
was and remains possible to express complex ideas (including in science, art, religion and law)
without the use of Sanskrit loan words. In addition, Sanskritisation was actively resisted by a
number of authors of the late medieval period, culminating in the 20th century in a movement
called taṉit tamiḻ iyakkam (meaning "pure Tamil movement"), led byParithimaar
Kalaignar and Maraimalai Adigal, which sought to remove the accumulated influence of Sanskrit
on Tamil. As a result of this, Tamil in formal documents, literature and public speeches has seen
a marked decline in the use Sanskrit loan words in the past few decades, under some estimates
having fallen from 40–50% to about 20%. As a result, the Prakrit and Sanskrit loan words used in
modern Tamil are, unlike in some other Dravidian languages, restricted mainly to some spiritual
terminology and abstract nouns.

In the 20th century, institutions and learned bodies have, with government support, generated
technical dictionaries for Tamil containing neologisms and words derived from Tamil roots to
replace loan words from English and other languages.

Influence

Words of Tamil origin occur in other languages. A notable example of a word in worldwide use
with Dravidian (not specifically Tamil) etymology is orange, via Sanskrit nāraṅga from a Dravidian
predecessor of Tamil nartankāy "fragrant fruit". Anaconda is word of Tamil origin anai-kondra
meaning elephant killer Examples in English include cheroot (churuṭṭumeaning "rolled
up"), mango (from mangai), mulligatawny (from miḷaku taṉṉir, "pepper
water"), pariah (fromparaiyan), curry (from kari), and catamaran (from kaṭṭu maram, "bundled
logs"). Congee (from Kanji - rice porridge or gruel)

Tamil literature
Tamil literature (Tamil: தமிழ் இலக்கியம்) refers to the literature in the Tamil language.

Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The
oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution.
Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly fromTamil people from South India, including the
land now comprising Tamil Nadu,Kerala, Sri Lankan Tamils from Sri Lanka, and from Tamil
diaspora. The history of Tamil literature follows the history of Tamil Nadu, closely following the
social, political and cultural trends of various periods. The early Sangam literature, starting from
the period of 2nd century BCE, contain anthologies of various poets dealing with many aspects
of life, including love, war, social values and religion. This was followed by the early epics and
moral literature, authored by Hindu, Jain and Buddhist authors, lasting up to the 5th century CE.
From the 6th to 12th century CE, the Tamil devotional poems written by Nayanmars (sages
of Shaivism) and (Alvars, sages of Vaishnavism) heralded the great Bhakti movement which later
engulfed the entire Indian subcontinent. It is during this era that some of the grandest of Tamil
literary classics like Kambaramayanam and Periya Puranam were authored and many poets
were patronized by the imperial Chola and Pandya empires. The later medieval period saw many
assorted minor literary works and also contributions by a fewMuslim and European authors. By
having the most ancient non-Sanskritized Indian literature, Tamil literature is unique and thus has
become the subject of study by scholars who wish to delineate the non-Aryan and pre-Aryan
strands in Indian culture.[1]

A revival of Tamil literature took place from the late 19th century when works of religious and
philosophical nature were written in a style that made it easier for the common people to enjoy.
The modern Tamil literary movement started withSubramania Bharathi, the mutlifaceted Indian
Nationalist poet and author, and was quickly followed up by many who began to utilize the power
of literature in influencing the masses. With growth of literacy, Tamil prose began to blossom and
mature. Short stories and novels began to appear. Modern Tamil Literary criticism also evolved.
The popularity of Tamil Cinema has also interacted with Tamil literature in some mutually
enriching ways.

Sangam age

Sangam literature comprises some of the oldest extant Tamil literature, and deals with love, war,
governance, trade and bereavement. Unfortunately much of the Tamil literature belonging to the
Sangam period has been lost. The literature currently available from this period is perhaps just a
fraction of the wealth of material produced during this golden age of Tamil civilization. The
available literature from this period has been broadly divided in antiquity into three categories
based roughly on chronology. These are: the Major Eighteen Anthology Seriescomprising
the Eight Anthologies and the Ten Idylls and the Five Great Epics. Tolkaappiyam, a commentary
on grammar, phonetics, rhetoric andpoetics is dated from this period.

Tamil legends hold that these were composed in three successive poetic assemblies (Sangam)
that were held in ancient times on a now vanishedcontinent far to the south of India. A significant
amount of literature could have preceded Tolkappiyam as grammar books are usually written
after the existence of literature over long periods. Tamil tradition holds the
earliest Sangam poetry to be over twelve millennia old. Modern linguisticscholarship places the
poems between the 1st century BC and the 3rd century AD.

Sangam age is considered by the Tamil people as the golden era of Tamil language. This was
the period when the Tamil country was ruled by the three 'crowned kings'
the Cheras, Pandyas and the Cholas. The land was at peace with no major external
threats. Asoka's conquests did not impact on the Tamil land and the people were able to indulge
in literary pursuits. The poets had a much more casual relationship with their rulers than can be
imagined in later times. They could chide them when they are perceived to wander from the
straight and narrow. The greatness of the Sangam age poetry may be ascribed not so much to
its antiquity, but due to the fact that their ancestors were indulging in literary pursuits and logical
classification of the habitats and society in a systematic manner with little to draw from
precedents domestically or elsewhere. The fact that these classifications were documented at a
very early date in the grammatical treatiseTolkappiyam, demonstrates the organized manner in
which the Tamil language has evolved. Tolkappiyam is not merely a textbook on
Tamil grammar giving the inflection and syntax of words and sentences but also includes
classification of habitats, animals, plants and human beings. The discussion on human emotions
and interactions is particularly significant. Tolkappiyam divided into three
chapters: orthography, etymology and subject matter (Porul). While the first two chapters of
Tolkappiyam help codify the language, the last part, Porul refers to the people and their behavior.
The grammar helps to convey the literary message on human behavior and conduct, and
uniquely merges the language with its people.

The literature was classified into the broad categories of 'subjective' (akam) and 'objective'
(puram) topics to enable the poetic minds to discuss any topic under the sun, from grammar to
love, within the framework of well prescribed, socially accepted conventions. Subjective topics
refer to the personal or human aspect of emotions that cannot be verbalized adequately or
explained fully. It can only be experienced by the individuals and includes love and sexual
relationship.

Recognizing that human activities cannot take place in vacuum and are constantly influenced by
environmental factors, human experiences, in general, and subjective topics in particular, are
assigned to specific habitats. Accordingly land was classified into five genres
(thinai): kurinji (mountainous regions), mullai (forests), marutham (agricultural
lands), neithal(seashore), paalai (wasteland). The images associated with these landscapes –
birds, beasts, flowers, gods, music, people, weather, seasons – were used to subtly convey a
mood, associated with an aspect of life. Kuruntokai, a collection of poems belonging to
the Ettuthokai anthology demonstrates an early treatment of the Sangam landscape. Such
treatments are found to be much refined in the later works
of Akananuru and Paripaatal. Paripaatal takes its name from the musicalParipaatal meter meter
utilised in these poems. This is the first instance of a work set to music. Akaval and kalippa were
the other popular meters used by poets during the Sangam age.

Post-Sangam period
Didactic age
The three centuries after the Sangam age witnessed an increase in the mutual interaction
of Sanskrit and Tamil. A number of words and concepts relating
to ethics, philosophy and religion were mutually borrowed and exchanged between the
languages. Around 300 CE, the Tamil land was under the influence of a group of people known
as the Kalabhras. The Kalabhras were Buddhist and a number of Buddhist authors flourished
during this period. Jainism and Buddhism saw rapid growth. These authors, perhaps reflecting
the austere nature of their faiths, created works mainly on morality and ethics. A number
of Jain and Buddhist poets contributed to the creation of these didactic works as well as grammar
and lexicography. The collection the minor eighteen anthology was of this period.

The best known of these works on ethics is the Tirukkural by Thiruvalluvar. The book is a
comprehensive manual of ethics, polity and love, containing 1,330 distichs or kural divided into
chapters of ten distichs each: the first thirty-eight on ethics, the next seventy on polity and the
remainder on love.

Other famous works of this period are Kalavali, Nalatiyar, Inna Narpathu and Iniyavai Narpathu.

The Jain texts Nalatiyar andPazhamozhi Nanuru each consist of four hundred poems, each of
which cites a proverb and then illustrates it with a story.

Hindu devotional period

After the fall of the Kalabhras around 500 CE saw a reaction from the thus far suppressed
Hindus. The Kalabhras were replaced by the Pandyas in the south and by the Pallavas in the
north. Even with the exit of the Kalabhras, the Jain and Buddhist influence still remained in Tamil
Nadu. The early Pandya and the Pallava kings were followers of these faiths. The Hindu reaction
to this apparent decline of their religion was growing and reached its peak during the later part of
the 7th century. There was a widespread Hindu revival during which a huge body
of Saivaand Vaishnava literature was created. Many Saiva Nayanmars and
VaishnavaAlvars provided a great stimulus to the growth of popular devotional literature.
Karaikkal Ammaiyar who lived in the 6th century CE was the earliest of these Nayanmars. The
celebrated Saiva hymnists Sundaramoorthy , Thirugnana
Sambanthar and Thirunavukkarasar (also known as Appar) were of this period. Of Appar's
verses 3066 have survived. Sambandar sang 4,169 verses. Together these form the first six
books of the Saiva canon, collected by Nambi Andar Nambiin the 10th century. Sundarar
wrote Tiruttondartokai which gives the list of sixty-two Nayanmars. This was later elaborated by
Sekkilar in his Periyapuranam(4,272 verses). Manikkavasagar, who lived around the 8th century
CE was a minister in the Pandya court. His Tiruvasakam consisting of over 600 verses is noted
for its passionate devotion.. These Saivite Hymns collectively called Thirumurai (திருமுறை) is

described as SIXTH VEDA next to Bhagavath Geetha in Hindu Tradition.

Along with the Saiva Nayanmars, Vaishnava Alvars were also producing devotional hymns and
their songs were collected later into the Four Thousand Sacred Hymns (Naalayira Divyap
Prabhandham). The three earliest Alvars were Poygai, Pudam and Pey. Each of these wrote one
hundred Venpas. Tirumalisai Alwar who was a contemporary of the PallavaMahendravarman
I wrote such works as Naanmugantiruvadiandadi. Tirumangai Alvar who lived in the 8th century
CE was a more prolific writer and his works constitute about a third of the
Diyaprabhandam. Periyalvar and his adopted daughterAndal contributed nearly 650 hymns to the
Vaishnava canon. Andal symbolised purity and love for the God and wrote her hymns
addressing Vishnu as a lover. The hymn of Andal which starts with Vaaranam Aayiram (One
Thousand Elephants) tells of her dream wedding to Vishnu and is sung even today at Tamil
Vaishnava weddings. Nammalvar, who lived in the 9th century, wrote Tiruvaimoli. It comprises
1,101 stanzas and is held in great esteem for its elucidation of the Upanishads. This corpus was
collected by Nathamuni, around 950 CE and formed the classical and vernacular basis for Sri
Vaishnavism. These Hymns 'Naalayira Divya-p-Prabhandham' is respected at par with Vedas by
Sri Vaishnavites in sanctity and holiness and hence referred to as 'Dravida Vedam' 

Narrative epics
Cilappatikaram is one of the outstanding works of general literature of this period. The authorship
and exact date of the classic Cilappatikaram are not definitely known. Ilango Adigal, who is
credited with this work was reputed to be the brother of the Sangam age Chera king
Senguttuvan. However we have no information of such a brother in the numerous poems sung
on the Chera king. The Cilappatikaram is unique in its vivid portrayal of the ancient Tamil land.
This is unknown in other works of this period. Cilappatikaram and its companion
epic Manimekalai are Buddhist in philosophy. Manimekalai was written by Sattanar who was a
contemporary of Ilango Adigal. Manimekalai contains a long exposition of fallacies of logic which
is considered to be based on the 5th century Sanskrit work Nyayapravesa by Dinnag.[8] Kongu
Velir, a Jain author wrote Perunkathai based on the Sanskrit Brihat-
katha. Valayapathi and Kundalakesi are the names of two other narrative poems of this period
written by a Jain and a Buddhist author respectively. These works have been lost and only a few
poems of Valayapathi have been found so far.

Medieval literature

The medieval period was the period of the Imperial Cholas when the entire south India was
under a single administration. The period between the 11th and the 13th centuries, during which
the Chola power was at its peak, there were relatively few foreign incursions and the life for the
Tamil people was one of peace and prosperity. It also provided the opportunity for the people to
interact with cultures beyond their own, as the Cholas ruled over most of the South India, Sri
Lanka and traded with the kingdoms in southeast Asia. The Cholas built numerous temples,
mainly for their favourite god Siva, and these were celebrated in numerous hymns.
The Prabhanda became the dominant form of poetry. The religious canons
of Saiva and Vaishnava sects were beginning to be systematically collected and categorised.
Nambi Andar Nambi, who was a contemporary of Rajaraja Chola I, collected and arranged the
books on Saivism into eleven books called Tirumurais. The hagiology of Saivism was
standardised in Periyapuranam (also known as Tiruttondar Puranam) by Sekkilar, who lived
during the reign of Kulothunga Chola II (1133–1150 CE). Religious books on theVaishnava sect
were mostly composed in Sanskrit during this period. The great Vaishnava
leader Ramanuja lived during the reigns of Athirajendra Chola andKulothunga Chola I, and had
to face religious persecution from the Cholas who belonged to the Saiva sect. One of the best
known Tamil works of this period is the Ramavatharam by Kamban who flourished during the
reign of Kulottunga III.Ramavatharam is the greatest epic in Tamil Literature, and although the
author states that he followed Valmiki, his work is not a mere translation or even an adaptation of
the Sanskrit epic. Kamban imports into his narration the colour and landscape of his own time. A
contemporary of Kamban was the famous poetessAuvaiyar who found great happiness in writing
for young children. Her works,Athichoodi and Konraiventhan are even now generally read and
taught in schools in Tamil Nadu. Her two other works, Mooturai and Nalvali were written for
slightly older children. All the four works are didactic in character. They explain the basic wisdom
that should govern mundane life.

Of the books on the Buddhist and the Jain faiths, the most noteworthy is theJivaka-chintamani by

the Jain ascetic Thirutakkadevar composed in the 10th century. Viruttam style of poetry was
used for the first time for the verses in this book. The five Tamil epics Jivaka-
chintamani, Cilappatikaram, Manimekalai,Kundalakesi and Valayapathi are collectively known
as The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature. There were a number of books written on Tamil
grammar.Yapperungalam and Yapperungalakkarigai were two works on prosody by
the Jain ascetic Amirtasagara. Buddamitra wroteVirasoliyam, another work on Tamil grammar,
during the reign of Virarajendra Chola. Virasoliyam attempts to find synthesis between Sanskrit
and Tamil grammar. Other grammatical works of this period are Nannul by
Pavanandi, Vaccanandi Malaiby Neminatha, and the annotations on the puram
theme, Purapporul Venpamalai by Aiyanaridanar.

There were biographical and political works such as Jayamkondar's Kalingattuparani, a semi-

historical account on the two invasion of Kalinga by Kulothunga Chola I. Jayamkondar was a
poet-laureate in the Chola court and his work is a fine example of the balance between fact and
fiction the poets had to tread. Ottakuttan, a close contemporary of Kambar, wrote
three Ulas on Vikrama Chola, Kulothunga Chola II and Rajaraja Chola II

Vijayanagar and Nayak period

The period from 1300 CE to 1650 was a period of constant change in the political situation of
Tamil Nadu. The Tamil country was invaded by the armies of the Delhi Sultanate and defeated
the Pandya kingdom. The collapse of the Delhi Sultanatetriggered the rise of
the Bahmani Sultans in the Deccan. Vijayanagar empire rose from the ashes of the kingdoms
ofHoysalas and Chalukyas and eventually conquered the entire south India. The Vijayanagar
kings appointed regional governors to rule various territories of their kingdom and Tamil Nadu
was ruled by the Madurai Nayaks, Thanjavur Nayaksand Gingee Nayaks. This period saw a
large output of philosophical works, commentaries, epics and devotional poems. A number of
monasteries (Mathas) were established by the various Hindu sects and these began to play a
prominent role in educating the people. Numerous authors were of either the Saiva or the
Vaishnava sects. The Vijayanagar kings and their Nayak governors were ardent Hindus and they
patronised these mathas. Although the kings and the governors of the Vijayanagar empire spoke
Kannada and Telugu they encouraged the growth of Tamil literature as we find no slowing down
in the literary output during this period.
There was a large output of works of philosophical and religious in nature, such as
the Sivananabodam by Meykandar. At the end of the 14th century Svarupananda Desikar wrote
two anthologies on the philosophy os Advaita, theSivaprakasapperundirattu. Arunagirinathar who
lived in Tiruvannamalai in the 14th century wrote Tiruppugal. Around 1360 verses of unique lilt
and set to unique metres these poems are on the god Muruga. Madai Tiruvengadunathar, an
official in the court of the Madurai Nayak, wrote Meynanavilakkam on the Advaita Vedanta. Siva
prakasar, in the early 17th century wrote a number of works on the Saiva philosophy. Notable
among these is the Nanneri which deals with moral instructions. A considerable par to the
religious and philosophical literature of the age took the form of Puranas or narrative epics. A
number of these were written on the various deities of the temples in Tamil Nadu and are known
as Sthala Puranas, based on legend and folklore. One of the most important of the epics was
the Mahabharatam by Villiputturar. He translated Vyasa's epic into Tamil and named
it Villibharatam. Kanthapuranam on the god Murugan was written by Kacchiappa Sivachariyar
who lived in the 15th century. This work was based broadly on the Sanskrit Skandapurana.
Varatungarama Pandya, aPandya king of the period was a littérateur of merit and
wrote Paditrruppattanthathi. He also translated into Tamil the erotic book known
as Kokkoha from Sanskrit.

This period also an age of many commentaries of ancient Tamil works. Adiyarkunallar wrote an
annotation onCilappatikaram. Senavaraiyar wrote a commentary on the Tolkappiyam. Then
came the famous Parimelalagar whose commentary on the Tirukkural is still considered one of
the best available. Other famous annotators such as Perasiriyar and Naccinarikiniyar wrote
commentaries on the various work of Sangam literature. The first Tamil dictionary was attempted
by Mandalapurusha who compiled the lexicon Nigandu Cudamani. Thayumanavar, who lived in
the early 18th century, is famous for a number of short poems of philosophical nature.

The 17th century also saw for the first time literary works by Muslim and Christian authors. The
population of Muslims and Christians were growing in Tamil Nadu with the influences of the Delhi
Sultanate and the growing European missionaries. Syed Khader known in Tamil as Sithaakkathi,
lived in the 17th century and was a great patron of all Tamil poets. He commissioned the creation
of a biography on the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Omar known in Tamil as UmaruPulavar,
wroteSeerapuranam on the life of Muhammad. Costanzo Giuseppe Beschi (1680–1746), better
known as Veeramamunivar, compiled the first dictionary in Tamil. His Chathurakarathi was the
first to list the Tamil words in alphabetical order.Veeramamunivar is also remembered for his
Christian theological epic Thembavani on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ.

Modern era

During the 18th and the 19th century Tamil Nadu witnessed some of the most profound changes
in the political scene. The traditional Tamil ruling clans were superseded by European colonists
and their sympathisers. The Tamil society underwent a deep cultural shock with the imposition of
western cultural influences. The Hindu religious establishments attempted to stem the tide of
change and to safeguard the Tamil cultural values. Notable among these were the Saiva
monasteries at Tiruvavaduthurai, Dharmapuram, Thiruppananthal and Kundrakudi. Meenakshi
Sundaram Pillai(1815–1876) was a Tamil scholar who taught Tamil at one of these monasteries.
He wrote more than eighty books consisting of over 200,000 poems.He is more famous however
for encouraging U.V.Swaminatha Iyer to go search for Tamil books that have been lost for
centuries. Gopalakrishna Bharathi lived during the early 19th century. He wrote numerous poems
and lyrics set to tune in Carnatic music. His most famous work is the Nandan Charitam on the life
of Nandanar who having been born in a sociologically lower caste, faces and overcomes the
social obstacles in achieving his dream of visiting theChidambaram temple. This work is a
revolutionary social commentary considering the period in which it was written, although
Gopalakrishna Bharati expanded on the story in Periyapuranam. Ramalinga Adigal (Vallalar)
(1823–1874) wrote the devotional poem Tiruvarutpa is considered to be a work of great beauty
and simplicity. Maraimalai Adigal (1876–1950) advocated for the purity of Tamil and wanted to
clean it of words with Sanskrit influences. One of the great Tamil poets of this period
was Subramanya Bharathi. His works are stimulating in their progressive themes like freedom
and feminism. Bharathy introduced a new poetic style into the somewhat rigid style of Tamil
poetry writing, which had followed the rules set down in the Tolkaappiyam.
His puthukkavithai (Lit.:new poetry) broke the rules and gave poets the freedom to express
themselves. He also wrote Tamil prose in the form of commentaries, editorials, short stories and
novels. Some of these were published in the Tamil daily Swadesamitran and in his Tamil
weekly India. Inspired by Bharathi, many poets resorted to poetry as a means of
reform. Bharathidasan was one such poet. U.V.Swaminatha Iyer, was instrumental in the revival
of interest in the Sangam age literature in Tamil Nadu. He travelled all over the Tamil country,
collecting, deciphering and publishing ancient books such as Cilappatikaram, Kuruntokai, etc. He
published over 90 books and wrote En caritham, an autobiography.

Tamil novel
The novel as a genre of literature arrived in Tamil in the third quarter of the 19th century, more
than a century after it became popular with English writers. Its emergence was perhaps
facilitated by the growing population of Tamils with a western education and exposure to popular
English fiction. Mayavaram Vedanayagam Pillai wrote the first Tamil novelPrathapa Mudaliar
Charithram in 1879. This was a romance with an assortment of fables, folk tales and even Greek
and Roman stories, written with the entertainment of the reader as the principal motive. It was
followed by Kamalambal Charitramby B.R. Rajam Iyer in 1893 and Padmavathi Charitram by A.
Madhaviah in 1898. These two portray the life of Brahmins in 19th century rural Tamil Nadu,
capturing their customs and habits, beliefs and rituals. Although it was primarily a powerful
narration of the common man's life in a realistic style spiced with natural humour, Rajam Iyer's
novel has a spiritual and philosophical undertone. Madhaviah tells the story in a more realistic
way with a searching criticism of the upper caste society, particularly the sexual exploitation of
girls by older men.Mr.D.Jayakanthan - the real trend setter in modern day Tamil novels.He has
not only enriched the high traditions of literary traditions of Tamil language but has also made
outstanding contribution towards the shaping of Indian literature. His literature presents a deep
and sensitive understanding of complex human nature and is an authentic and vivid index of
Indian reality. His famous novel Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal notable one.

Since the 1990s the post modernism writers emerged as a major figures,
including Jeyamohan, S.Ramakrishnan, Charu Nivedita. The critically acclaimed works include
Vishnupuram by Jeymohan, Ubapandavam by S.Ramakrishnan, Zero degree by Charu
Niveditha, Konangi ( Paazhi), yumaa vasuki - Ratha vurvu (Blood Relation), Lakshmi
Manivannan ( appavin Thottathil neer payum idangal ellam ...), nakulan - ninivu-p-
padhai., and Konangi, who mixes classical Tamil inflections with experimental sound poets.

There is another less recognized, but rich literary work - novels translated from other languages,
which are ignored by Tamil pundits. The works include " Urumaatram" (Translation of Franz
Kafka's The Metamorphosis), Siluvayil Thongum Saathaan ( Translation of "Devil on the Cross"
by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o), Thoongum azhagigalin Illam ( Translation of "House of Sleeping
Beauties" - by Yasunari Kawabata). The writers like Amarantha, Latha Ramakrishnan are
contributing for these works.

Periodicals
The increasing demand of the literate public caused a number of journals and periodicals to be
published and these in turn provided a platform for authors to publish their work. Rajavritti
Bodhini and Dina Varthamani in 1855 and Salem Pagadala Narasimhalu Naidu's fortnightlies,
Salem Desabhimini in 1878 and Coimbatore Kalanidhi in 1880, were the earliest Tamil journals.
In 1882, G. Subramaniya Iyer started the newspaper Swadesamitran. It became the first Tamil
daily in 1889. This was the start of many journals to follow and many novelists began to serialise
their stories in these journal. The humour magazine Ananda Vikatan started by S.S. Vasan in
1929 was to help create some of the greatest Tamil novelists. Kalki Krishnamurthy (1899–1954)
serialised his short stories and novels in Ananda Vikatan and eventually started his own
weeklyKalki for which he wrote the enduringly popular novels Parthiban Kanavu, Sivagamiyin
Sabadham and Ponniyin Selvan.Pudhumaipithan (1906–1948) was a great writer of short stories
and provided the inspiration for a number of authors who followed him. The 'new poetry
or pudukkavithai pioneered by Bharathi in his prose-poetry was further developed by the literary
periodicals manikkodi and ezhuttu (edited by Si Su Chellappa). Poets such as Mu
Metha contributed to these periodicals. Tamil Christian poets also added to the body of Tamil
literature. Tamil Muslim poets like Pavalar Inqulab andRokkiah too have made significant
contributions to social reforms. The pioneering fortnightly journal Samarasam was established in
1981 to highlight and cater to the ethnic Tamil Muslim community's issues. Another remarkable
work was done in Tamil novel field by Mu.Varatharasanar.[Agal vilakku] [Karithundu]. And last
but not least Akilan the unique Tamil novelist,short story writer and a social activist is famous for
his works like 'Chithirapavai' 'Vengayinmaindan' 'Pavaivilaku'.
 Tamil Journalism

The first Tamil periodical was published by the Christian Religious Tract Society in 1831 - The
Tamil Magazine.

The increasing demand of the literate public caused a number of journals and periodicals to be
published and these in turn provided a platform for authors to publish their work. Rajavritti
Bodhini and Dina Varthamani in 1855 and Salem Pagadala Narasimhalu Naidu's fornightlies,
Salem Desabhimini in 1878 and Coimbatore Kalanidhi in 1880, were the earliest Tamil journals.

The first regular newspaper in Tamil was Swadesamitran in 1882, started by G.Subramaniya
Iyer, editor and sponsor of The Hindu and founding member of the Indian National Congress. He
created a whole new Tamil political vocabulary. He) was conscious that those with a knowledge
of English are a small number and those with a knowledge of Indian languages the vast majority.
He felt that unless our people were told about the objectives of British rule and its merits and
defects in the Indian languages, our political knowledge would never develop. When Subramania
Aiyer quit The Hindu 1898, he made the Swadesamitran his full-time business. In 1899, the first
Tamil daily. It was to enjoy this status for 17 years.

Subramania Aiyer's "pugnacious style, never qualifying words to soften the sharp tenor of a
sentence," his use of words "dipped in a paste of extra pungent green chillies," made the
Swadesamitran sought by Tamils wherever they lived in the world. And the daily became even
more popular when Subramania Bharati joined it in 1904. The next year, when Lala Lajpat Rai
was arrested and agitation followed in the Punjab, Subramania Aiyer's attitude to the British
changed and he became a trenchant political critic of the Raj. His whole political mantra can be
summed up in these words: `Peaceful but tireless and unceasing effort.' Let us sweat ourselves
into Swaraj, he would seem to say." Swadesamitran is credited for coining new Tamil words to
deal with science, politics and administration. It had the most comprehensive budget of news
among all the regional language papers of that time.

In 1917, Desabhaktan, another Tamil daily began with T.V. Kalyansundara Menon as editor. He
was succeeded by V.V.S. Iyer, a colleague of the Savarkar brothers. These two editors were
scholars with a natural, highly readable but polished style of writing.

The freedom movement and the advent of Gandhi also impacted Tamil journalism. Navasakthi, a
Tamil periodical edited by Tamil scholar and freedom fighter V. Kalyanasundaram. C.
Rajagopalachari began Vimochanam, a Tamil journal devoted to propagating prohibition at the
Gandhi Ashram in Tiruchengode in Salem district.

In 1926, Dr P. Vadarajulu Naidu, who was conducting a Tamil news-cum-views weekly ‘Tamil
Nadu’ started a daily with the same name. Its forceful and colluqial style gained it a wide
readership but after the paper failed to take sides with the 1930 Civil Disobedience Movement,
the Congress Party decided to bring out a new Tamil daily- India, edited by renowned poet
Subramania Bharati. India showed great promise but could not establish itself financially, and
folded up soon after Bharati was exiled to Pondicherry. All these papers were published from
Madras.

In 1933, the first Tamil tabloid- the 8 page Jayabharati began at a price of ¼ anna. It closed in
1940 as the price could not sustain even its postage.

In September 1934, S. Sadanand (who was running The Free Press Journal) started the Tamil
daily Dinamani with T.S. Chockalingam as editor. It was priced at 6 pies, contained bright
features and was fearlessly critical. It was highly successful and its circulation eclipsed the total
circulation of all other Tamil dailies. Soon ‘India’ was incorporated into Dinamani. Dinamani made
a studied and conscious effort to make the contents of a newspaper intelligible even to the newly
literate. In 1935, Viduthalai was begun, but it was more of a views-paper than a newspaper. The
Non-Brahman Movement also gave an impetus to Tamil journalism. Newspapers like the ‘Bharat
Devi’ were strong supporters of this movement.

Many magazines began in Tamil Nadu during the 1920s and '30s. The humour magazine
Ananda Vikatan started by S.S. Vasan in 1929 was to help create some of the greatest Tamil
novelists. It is still running successfully after 80 years and the Vikatan group today also publishes
Chutti Vikatan, Junior Vikatan, Motor Vikatan and other special interest magazines. R.
Krishnamurthy serialised his short stories and novels in Ananda Vikatan and eventually started
his own weekly Kalki. The name Kalki denotes the impending tenth Avatar of Lord Vishnu in the
Hindu religion, who it is said, will bring to an end the Kali Yuga and reinstate Dharma or
righteoueness among the worldly beings. He used the name because he wanted to bring about
liberation of India.

In 1942, Dina Thanthi (Daily Telegraph) was started in Madurai with simultaneous editions in
Madras, Salem and Tiruchirappalli. It was founded by S.P. Adithanar, a lawyer trained in Britain.
He modeled Thanthi on the style of an English tabloid- The Daily Mirror. He aimed to bring out a
newspaper that ordinary people would read, and which would encourage a reading habit even
among the newly literate. In the past, the daily newspaper which was printed in Madras reached
the southern Tamil region after at least one day. Thanthi used the public bus system to distribute
the paper throughout the south Tamil region and capitalized on the hunger for war news that
arose after Singapore fell to the Japanese. Due to financial constraints, its Salem and
Tiruchirappalli editions had to be closed down for a while. Thanthi emphasized local news,
especially crime and the courts. It used photographs extensively and brought banner headlines
to Tamil journalism. It could fit one story on an entire broadsheet page, mainly filled with large
easy-to-read headlines. One of its biggest scoops was the murder of the editor of a scandalous
film magazine by two actors. Thanthi covered the trial in Madras in detail, and its reporters
phoned the daily account to the printing centre in Madurai. Thanthi was the first Tamil paper to
understand the people’s fascination with crime and film stars. The paper was popular and it was
said that Tamils learned to read in order to read the newspaper.

Dina Thanthi became one of the largest Tamil language dailies by circulation within a few years;
it has been a leading Tamil daily since the 1960s. It has today 14 editions. It is the highest
circulated Tamil daily in Bangalore and Pondicherry. It issues a book called 10th, +2 Vina Vidai
Book, on every Wednesday during the second part of the year. The model question papers of all
the subjects of Standard 10 and 12 are provided with answers along with the question papers of
board exams that are conducted previous year.

Popular Fiction
Crime and detective fiction has enjoyed wide popularity in Tamil Nadu since the 1930s. Popular
authors in the years before independence included Kurumbur Kuppusami and Vaduvur
Duraisami Iyengar. In the 1950s and '60s, Tamilvanan's detective hero Shankarlal carried
readers to a variety of foreign locales, while using a pure Tamil with very few Hindi or English
loan words. From the 1980s to the present, leading authors include Subha, Pattukkottai
Prabakar and Rajesh Kumar (who also writes science fiction and other genres). These writers
are often extremely prolific, with hundreds or even thousands of short novels to their credit, and
one or more short novel published in a monthly periodical. Indra Soundar Rajan, another popular
modern author, writes supernatural crime thrillers usually based around Hindu mythology.[11]

In 1940's and 1950s Kalki Krishnamurthy was notable for his historical and social fiction.

In the 1950s and 60s, Chandilyan wrote a number of very popular historical romance novels set
in medieval India or on medieval trade routes with Malaysia, Indonesia and Europe.

Arunaa Nandhini is one of recent Tamil Novelist who has entered the hearts of many Tamil
readers and her story covers family subject, romance, reality, with some humor added for the
readers to enjoy their leisure.

Modern romance novels are represented by the current bestselling author in the Tamil
language, Ramanichandran.

Though sales of Tamil pulp fiction have declined since the hey-day of the mid-1990s, and many
writers have turned to the more lucrative television serial market, there remains a thriving scene.

New Media
The rise of the Internet has triggered a dramatic growth in the number of Tamil blogs and
specialist portals catering to political and social issues. Even Tamil literature is available as
mobile books.

Religion

Ancient Tamil grammatical works Tolkappiyam, the the ten anthologies Pattuppāṭṭu, the eight
anthologies Eṭṭuttokai sheds light on early religion of ancient Dravidian people. Seyyon was
glorified as, the red god seated on the blue peacock, who is ever young and resplendent, as the
favored god of the Tamils. Sivan was also seen as the supreme God. Early iconography
of Seyyon and Sivan and their association with native flora and fauna goes back to Indus Valley
Civilization. The Sangam landscape was classified into five categories, thinais, based on the
mood, the season and the land. Tolkappiyam, mentions that each of these thinaihad an
associated deity such Seyyon in Kurinji-the hills, Thirumaal in Mullai-the forests,
and Kotravai in Marutham-the plains, and Wanji-ko in the Neithal-the coasts and the seas. Other
gods mentioned were Mayyon and Vaali who were all assimilated into Hinduism over time.
Dravidian influence on early Vedic religion is evident, many of these features are already present
in the oldest known Indo-Aryan language, the language of the Rigveda(c. 1500 BCE), which also
includes over a dozen words borrowed from Dravidian. This represents an early religious and
cultural fusion or synthesis between ancient Dravidians and Indo-Aryans, which became more
evident over time with sacred iconography, flora and fauna that went on to influence Hinduism,
Buddhism and Jainism

About 88% of the population of Tamil Nadu are Hindus. Christians and Muslims account for 6%
and 5.5% respectively. The majority of Muslims in Tamil Nadu speak Tamil, with less than 15%
of them reporting Urdu as their mother tongue. Tamil Jains number only a few thousand
now. Atheist, rationalist, and humanist philosophies are also adhered by sizeable minorities, as a
result of Tamil cultural revivalism in the 20th century, and its antipathy to what it saw as
Brahminical Hinduism.

The Om symbol in Tamil script.

The most popular deity is Murugan, he is known as the patron god of the Tamils and is also
called "Tamil Kadavul" (Tamil God). In Tamil tradition, Murugan is the youngest son and
Pillayar the oldest son of Sivan, it different from the North Indian tradition, which represents
Murugan as the oldest son. The goddess Parvati is often depicted as a goddess with green skin
complexion in Tamil Hindu tradition. The worship of Amman, also called Mariamman, is thought
to have been derived from an ancient mother goddess, is also very common. Kan̲n̲agi, the
heroine of the Cilappatikār̲am, is worshipped as Pattin̲i by many Tamils, particularly in Sri
Lanka. There are also many followers of Ayyavazhi in Tamil Nadu, mainly in the southern
districts. In addition, there are many temples and devotees of Vishnu, Siva, Ganapathi, and the
other Hindu deities. Muslims across Tamil Nadu follow Hanafi and Shafi'i schools. Most Tamil
Muslims are Shadhilis. Erwadi in Ramanathapuram district and Nagore in Nagapattinam
district are the major pilgrimage centres for Muslims in Tamil Nadu.
 Ayyanar, guardian folk deity of Tamil Nadu.

The most important Tamil festivals are Pongal, a harvest festival that occurs in mid-January, and
Varudapirappu, the Tamil New Year, which occurs on 14 April. Both are celebrated by almost all
Tamils, regardless of religion. The Hindu festival Deepavali is celebrated with fanfare; other
local Hindu festivals include Thaipusam, Panguni Uttiram, and Adiperukku. While Adiperukku is
celebrated with more pomp in the Cauvery region than in others, the Ayyavazhi Festival, Ayya
Vaikunda Avataram, is predominantly celebrated in the southern districts of Kanyakumari
District, Tirunelveli, and Thoothukudi.

Meenakshi Amman temple, dedicated to Goddess Meenakshi, tutelary deity of Madurai city

In rural Tamil Nadu, many local deities, called aiyyan̲ārs, are thought to be the spirits of local
heroes who protect the village from harm. Their worship often centres around nadukkal, stones
erected in memory of heroes who died in battle. This form of worship is mentioned frequently in
classical literature and appears to be the surviving remnants of an ancient Tamil tradition.

The Saivist sect of Hinduism is significantly represented amongst Tamils, more so among Sri

Lankan Tamils, although most of the Saivist places of religious significance are in northern India.
The Alvars and Nayanars, who were predominantly Tamils, played a key role in the renaissance
of Bhakti tradition in India. In the 10th century, the philosopher Ramanuja, who propagated the
theory of Visishtadvaitam, brought many changes to worshiping practices, creating new
regulations on temple worship, and accepted lower-caste Hindus as his prime disciples.

Tamil Jains constitute around 0.13% of the population of Tamil Nadu. Many of the rich Tamil
literature works were written by Jains. According to George L. Hart, the legend of the Tamil
Sangams or "literary assemblies: was based on the Jainsangham at Madurai.
Martial Traditions

Kalaripayattu martial art form which originated during Sangam Period

Various martial arts including Kuttu Varisai, Varma

Kalai, Silambam, Adithada,Malyutham and Kalarippayattu, are practised in Tamil
Nadu and Kerala.[37] The warm-up phase includes yoga, meditation and breathing exercises.
Silambam originated in ancient Tamilakam and was patronized by the Pandyans, Cholas and
Cheras, who ruled over this region. Silapathiharam a Tamil literature from 2nd century AD, refers
to the sale of Silamabam instructions, weapons and equipment to foreign traders.[38] Since the
early Sangam age, there was a warlike culture in South India. War was regarded as an
honorable sacrifice and fallen heroes and kings were worshiped in the form of a Hero stone.
Each warrior was trained in martial arts, horse riding and specialized in two of the weapons of
that period Vel (spear) Val (sword) and Vil (bow). Heroic martyrdom was glorified in ancient Tamil
literature. The Tamil kings and warriors followed an honour code similar to that of
JapaneseSamurais and committed suicide to save the honor. The forms of martial suicide were
known as Avipalli, Thannai, Verttal, Marakkanchi, Vatakkiruttal and Punkilithu Mudiyum Maram.
Avipalli was mentioned in all the works except Veera Soliyam. It was a self-sacrifice of a warrior
to the goddess of war for the victory of his commander. The Tamil rebels in Sri Lankareflected
some elements of Tamil martial traditions which included worship of fallen heroes (Maaveerar
Naal) and practice of martial suicide. They carried a Suicide pill around their neck to escape the
captivity and torture. A remarkable feature besides to their willingness to sacrifice is, that they
were well organized and disciplined. It was forbidden for the rebels to
consume tobaccos, alcohols, drugs and to have sexual relationship.[42]

Katar, Tamil dagger which was popular through out South Asian
The Wootz steel originated in South India and Sri Lanka. There are several ancient Tamil, Greek,
Chinese and Roman literary references to high carbon Indian steel since the time of Alexander's
India campaign. The crucible steel production process started in the sixth century BC, at
production sites of Kodumanal in Tamil Nadu, Golconda in Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka and Sri
Lanka and exported globally; the Tamils of the Chera Dynasty producing what was termed the
finest steel in the world, i.e. Seric Iron to the Romans, Egyptians, Chinese and Arabs by 500
BC. The steel was exported as cakes of steely iron that came to be known as "Wootz."

The Tamilakam method was to heat black magnetite ore in the presence of carbon in a sealed
clay crucible inside a charcoal furnace. An alternative was to smelt the ore first to give wrought
iron, then heated and hammered to be rid of slag. The carbon source was bamboo and leaves
from plants such as Avārai. The Chinese and locals in Sri Lanka adopted the production methods
of creating Wootz steel from the Chera Tamils by the 5th century BC. In Sri Lanka, this early
steel-making method employed a unique wind furnace, driven by the monsoon winds, capable of
producing high-carbon steel and production sites from antiquity have emerged, in places such
as Anuradhapura, Tissamaharama and Samanalawewa, as well as imported artifacts of ancient
iron and steel from Kodumanal. A 200 BC Tamil trade guild in Tissamaharama, in the South East
of Sri Lanka, brought with them some of the oldest iron and steel artifacts and production
processes to the island from the classical period. The Arabs introduced the South Indian/Sri
Lankan wootz steel to Damascus, where an industry developed for making weapons of this steel.
The 12th century Arab traveler Edrisi mentioned the "Hinduwani" or Indian steel as the best in
the world. Another sign of its reputation is seen in a Persian phrase – to give an "Indian answer",
meaning "a cut with an Indian sword." Wootz steel was widely exported and traded throughout
ancient Europe and the Arab world, and became particularly famous in the Middle East.

Traditional Weapons
The Tamil martial arts also includes various types of weapons.

 Valari (throwing stick)
 Maduvu (deer horns)
 Surul Vaal (curling blade)
 Vaal (sword) + Ketayam (shield)
 Itti or Vel (spear)
 Savuku (whip)
 Kattari (fist blade)
 Veecharuval (battle Machete)
 Silambam (long bamboo staff)
 Kuttu Katai (spiked knuckleduster)
 Katti (dagger/knife)
 Vil (bow)
 Tantayutam (mace)
 Soolam (trident)
 Theekutchi (flaming baton)
 Yeratthai Mulangkol (dual stick)
 Yeretthai Vaal (dual sword)

Visual art and architecture

Dancing Siva or Nataraja, example of Chola Empirebronze

The Brihadeshswara Temple at Thanjavur, also known as the Great Temple, built by Rajaraja Chola I

Most traditional art are religious in some form and usually centres on Hinduism, although the
religious element is often only a means to represent universal—and, occasionally,humanist—
themes.

The most important form of Tamil painting is Tanjore painting, which originated in Thanjavur in
the 9th century. The painting's base is made of cloth and coated with zinc oxide, over which the
image is painted using dyes; it is then decorated with semi-precious stones, as well as silver or
gold thread. A style which is related in origin, but which exhibits significant differences in
execution, is used for painting murals on temple walls; the most notable example are the murals
on the Kutal Azhakar and Meenakshi temples of Madurai, theBrihadeeswarar temple of Tanjore.
Tamil sculpture ranges from elegant stone sculptures in temples, to bronze icons with exquisite
details. The medieval Chola bronzes are considered to be one of India's greatest contributions to
the world art. Unlike most Western art, the material in Tamil sculpture does not influence the form
taken by the sculpture; instead, the artist imposes his/her vision of the form on the material. As a
result, one often sees in stone sculptures flowing forms that are usually reserved for metal.

Music

Ancient Tamil works, such as the Cilappatikaram, describe a system of music, and a 7th-century

Pallava inscription at Kudimiyamalai contains one of the earliest surviving examples of Indian
music in notation. Contemporary dance forms such as Bharatanatyam have recent origins but
are based older temple dance forms known as Catir Kacceri as practised bycourtesans and a
class of women known as Devadasis

Performing arts

Bharatanatyam dancers

Famous Tamil dance styles are

 Bharatanatyam (Tamil classical dance)

 Karakattam (Tamil ancient folk dance)
 Koothu (A folk and street dance)
 Thappattam (A folk drums and dance)
 Kavadiattam (dedicated to the Tamil God Murugan)
 Kummiyattam (female folk dance)
 Bommalattam (Puppet dance)
 Puliyattam (Tiger dance)
 Mayilattam (Peacock dance)
 Paampu attam (snake dance)
 Oyilattam (Dance of Grace)
 Poikal Kudirai Attam (False legged horses dance)
Contemporary dance forms such as Bharatanatyam have recent origins but are based older
temple dance forms known as Catir Kacceri as practised by courtesans and a class of women
known as Devadasis One of the Tamil folk dances is karakattam. In its religious form, the dance
is performed in front of an image of the goddess Mariamma. The kuravanci is a type of dance-
drama, performed by four to eight women. The drama is opened by a woman playing the part of
a females oothsayer of the kurava tribe(people of hills and mountains), who tells the story of a
lady pining for her lover. Thetherukoothu, literally meaning "street play", is a form of village
theater or folk opera. It is traditionally performed in village squares, with no sets and very simple
props. The performances involve songs and dances, and the stories can be either religious
or secular. The performances are not formal, and performers often interact with the audience,
mocking them, or involving them in the dialogue. Therukkūthu has, in recent times, been very
successfully adapted to convey social messages, such as abstinence and anti-caste criticism, as
well as information about legal rights, and has spread to other parts of India. Tamil Nadu also
has a well developed stage theatre tradition, which has been influenced by western theatre. A
number of theatrical companies exist, with repertoires including absurdist, realist,
and humorous plays.

Film and theater arts

The theatrical culture that flourished Tamil culture during the classical age. Tamil theatre has a
long and varied history whose origins can be traced back almost two millennia to dance-theatre
forms like Kotukotti and Pandarangam, which are mentioned in an ancient anthology of poems
entitled the Kalingathu Parani. The modern Tamil film industry originated during the 20th century.
Tamil film industry has its headquarters in Chennai and is known under the name Kollywood, it is
the second largest film industry in India after Bollywood. Films from Kollywood entertain
audiences not only in India but also overseas Tamil diaspora. Tamil films from Chennai have
been distributed to various overseas theatres in Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Malaysia,
Japan, Oceania, the Middle East, Western Europe, and North America. Inspired by Kollywood
originated outside India Independent Tamil film production in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Canada, and
western Europe. Several Tamil actresses such as Anuisa Ranjan Vyjayanthimala, Hema
Malini, Rekha Ganesan, Sridevi, Meenakshi Sheshadri, and Vidya Balan have acted
in Bollywood and dominated the cinema over the years. Some Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu
like MG Ramachandran, Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa have their background in Tamil film
industry.

Jallikattu
In Ancient times, Two bullfighting and bull-racing sports were conducted. 1.Manjuvirattu and 2.
Yeruthazhuval. These sports were organised to keep the people's temperament always fit and
ready for the war at anytime. Each has its own techniques and rules. These sports acted as one
of the criteria to marry girls of warrior family. There were traditions where the winner would be
chosen as bridegroom for their daughter or sister.
Mr. Gandhirajan, who is a post-graduate in Art History from Madurai-Kamaraj University, said the
ancient Tamil tradition was "manju virattu" (chasing bulls) or "eruthu kattuthal" (lassoing bulls)
and it was never "jallikattu," that is baiting a bull or controlling it as the custom obtained today. In
ancient Tamil country, during the harvest festival, decorated bulls would be let loose on the "peru
vazhi" (highway) and the village youth would take pride in chasing them and outrunning them.
Women, elders and children would watch the fun from the sidelines of the "peru vazhi" or streets.
Nobody was injured in this. Or the village youth would take delight in lassoing the sprinting bulls
with "vadam" (rope).

It was about 500 years ago, after the advent of the Nayak rule in Tamil Nadu with its Telugu
rulers and chieftains, that this harmless bull-chasing sport metamorphosed into "jallikattu," said
Mr. Gandhirajan. 

The ancient Tamil art of unarmed bullfighting, popular amongst warriors in the classical
period, has also survived in parts of Tamil Nadu, notably Alanganallur near Madurai, where it is
known as Jallikaṭṭu and is held once a year around the time of the Pongal festival.